Google's new wireless router is great because it's easy to set up

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Google
The Google OnHub is not the best WiFi router you can buy. It garnered a ton of hype when it was announced last month, but that's because this is Google, and anything it or Apple or Microsoft does causes the tech press to lose its mind. Its promise of making a mundane process (connecting to the Internet) sexier only furthered that, as did the apparent spontaneity of the announcement itself. Google? Making a WiFi router? What even is this?

When the OnHub made it into the wild, the hype pendulum started to swing the other way. Reviews were mixed, and rightly so, because this is a device with obvious, potentially deal-breaking flaws.

The OnHub only has one available Ethernet port, which means you can't have more than one wired connection — which is faster and more reliable than a wireless one — going at a time. It has no available USB ports. It has a bunch of features presumably aimed at smart homes, but Google hasn't enabled them yet. You can only access its settings from a smartphone or tablet, and the settings you can access in its Google On app are limited. (There's no VPN or parental controls, for instance.) Its speeds aren't as fast as the better routers in this price range, either.

Then there's that price itself. At $200, the OnHub plants itself in the upper class of routers, but its performance and feature set just can't compare. If you care about the technical quality of these things, you're obviously going to steer clear.

But not everyone cares. It'd be nice if most of the world knew what wireless-ac spatial streams were, but it doesn't. Lots of people just want a router that turns on, gives them internet, and doesn't get in the way. It's this decidedly not tech-savvy market that the OnHub is aiming at— the people who take whatever router their ISP gives them and suffer through it accordingly — and it's those people for whom the OnHub can still be a worthwhile purchase.

There are two main reasons for this. The first is that, unlike many routers, setting up and checking on the OnHub is painless. You just plug it in, open up the Google On app, and let it walk you through. You need a live Google account, but the whole process takes less than five minutes. If something goes wrong, the OnHub glows amber, and the app will show you what's up. You can reset the device right from there, too. It's an altogether more natural way to keep tabs on your connection; you check your WiFi the same way you check your texts or email.
Amazon
The second thing is that the OnHub just looks good. It sounds shallow, but compared to the plastic heaps and alien spiders that make up the router market, the OnHub's smooth cylindrical look is one that many people will be fine with displaying around the house. (Just make sure you use a long enough Ethernet cable with your modem first.) This has legitimate benefits, too — keeping your router out of the cobwebs puts less obstacles between its radios and your devices, improving its performance.

And about that performance: No, it's not "$200 good," but it's fine for plenty of people. Your mileage will always vary depending on the size and layout of your place, but if you aren't buried in connected devices, it's fast and reliable enough to keep things moving. The 13 antennas built into the device give it decent range, too.

If you're the type who studies the router market before making a purchase, and you're content with your current Internet setup, you shouldn't buy the OnHub. It's not an upgrade device, even if it's priced like one. It can be a convenient tool, though, if you don't give much thought to networking gear, you're not uber-connected, and you're looking to step up your basic router with something that won't give you headaches. (And you have a little money to burn.) Although much of its sales pitch is rooted in Google's vague plans for the future, the OnHub isn't totally worth writing off today.

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